Question: If the sales tax in your city is $12.8\%$, how much tax would you pay for an item that costs $\$127$ before tax? Round to the nearest cent.
In order to find the amount of sales tax you would pay, multiply the sales tax by the original price of the item. ${12.8\%} \times {\$127} =$ Percent means "out of one hundred," so $12.8\%$ is equivalent to $12.8 \div 100$ $12.8 \div 100 = 0.128$ Multiply the sales tax you just converted into a decimal by the original price to find the amount of sales tax that must be paid. Round to the nearest cent. $0.128$ $\times$ $$127$ = $$16.26$ You would pay $$16.26$ in sales tax.